Blue Jays: 3 players fans are ready to move on from

Julian Merryweather

Merryweather is one of the major league ready talents without a clear and defined role entering 2023. The former PTBNL has been a frustrating case, both from a Blue Jays staff and fan perspective. 

The potential the hard throwing righty possesses is something that is tantalizing to any organization. However, injuries, inconsistencies, and a tendency of giving up homeruns has led to poor numbers over the last two seasons from Julian.

An ERA of 6.13 over just 39.2 innings through the past two seasons is far removed from the expectations placed upon him after his brief 2020 and hot start to the 2021 season. Everyone remembers that opening series at Yankee Stadium. Merryweather was able to power through a potent Yankees lineup en route to a solid beginning of the 2021 season. He threw 4.1 scoreless innings before succumbing to an oblique injury, which sidelined him until September. Upon his return he was shelled to an ERA of 7.27 over 8.2 innings.

His troubles continued into last year. Between injuries and a WHIP of 1.46 when healthy, Merryweather was ineffective and never put himself in a position to be relied upon to record important outs. He’s been passed in the bullpen depth chart by many, and will be pushed even further back with the arrival of Erik Swanson.

Merryweather is also out of minor league options, meaning he cannot be sent to AAA Buffalo if he fails to make the roster out of camp. This mix of poor performance, injury history and circumstance all contribute to the possibility of Julian being on the outside looking in. Fans seem to be ready to move on from him, and there’s a good chance the Jays are too.

Yusei Kikuchi

This is a guy that fans are certainly ready to bid farewell to, though the front office surely isn’t yet. Kikuchi was signed to a three year deal last offseason with the intention that he’d be a potential high upside arm at the backend of the rotation. Having come off of an All-Star season that saw a great first half and a lackluster second, there was genuine hope Kikuchi could be a capable back-end starter. With 2021 being the first season off of a shortened 2020 season, an assumption could be made that he just tired during the second half.

What followed was nothing short of a disaster, and a frustrating one at that. Kikuchi was often visibly tentative on the mound, scared to use his fastball, and was sporadic in terms of his ability to find the strike zone. To add to the frustration, Kikuchi was genuinely one of baseball’s best starting pitchers in May. Over five starts, the Japanese lefty accrued a 2.36 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP and 10.5 K/9. It’s quite the conundrum what exactly happened to lead to such a dramatic dip in performance. Regardless, this unsustained success was a far cry from what he offered the rest of the season, and he was forced to leave a rotation that desperately needed another experienced arm down the stretch.

Kikuchi was eventually moved to the bullpen. This move was made in conjunction with the emergence of Ross Stripling and the acquisition of Mitch White. While his ERA of 4.91 as a reliever doesn’t necessarily jump out at you, his strikeout numbers were other-worldly; a staggering 16.2 K/9 over 18.1 innings showcased just how good Kikuchi’s stuff could be.

Unfortunately for Jays fans, I don’t see Kikuchi departing any time soon. He’s entering the second year of that three year contract, and as of this being written he will have a shot to win a rotation spot come Spring Training. The Blue Jays have brought in Chris Bassitt, but the fifth spot in the rotation appears to still be up for grabs.

Cavan Biggio

I’ll preface this by saying I’m still a believer in Cavan Biggio. But I will admit, last year wasn't pretty. Biggio entered 2022 a season removed from his first disappointing season in the bigs. He appeared to be relied upon to be the primary third baseman, and there was really no reason to think he wasn’t up to the task. From 2019-2020 he had been successful as a utilityman, playing mostly second base while making appearances at first, third, and the corner outfield spots. He posted a 116 OPS+ during that period and was quietly one of the Jays most effective players, actually leading the team in bWAR amongst position players with 2.0 over the 60 game season.

Biggio didn’t experience similar fortunes in 2021, as he never seemed comfortable at third and never got a rhythm at the plate. With this in the rearview, I was looking forward to this season, as it seemed like there was a capable platoon to be had between him and Espinal at second. But again, he fell short. When the Texas native’s game is off, he’s very strikeout prone. Night after night saw him striking out in big situations, and always left you wanting more, as he is only 27 years old and is two years removed from a solid performance.

While a roster crunch is imminent, Biggio doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, albeit to the distaste of many Blue Jays fans. With the emergence of both Whit Merrifield and Santiago Espinal, as well as the presence of multiple middle infield prospects, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he is a full time second baseman on the Blue Jays from here on out. I expect him to play a similar role to what he did last year, filling in around the infield and corner outfield, but this year putting up competent and consistent at bats.

If Blue Jays fans are to get their wish and see Cavan gone, a trade would be the way to go. He is at a point of low cost, high upside to a team looking to trade with the Jays. It’s plausible that Biggio is included as a piece in, say, a trade with the Marlins, where the Jays acquire more pitching and an outfielder in exchange for one of their catchers and Biggio. Cavan is on the outside looking in for playing time, putting him in an expendable position compared to what we saw at the beginning of last year. A trade like this would no doubt grant the wishes of a good amount of Jays fans, but the fan writing this still thinks Biggio is capable of contributing to a championship caliber team.